Day one
Our arrival day meant unpacking and exploring our surroundings, it was very wet and muddy around the area so a run was out of the question (I really am not sure footed!!) so just before bed I cracked out my weights and did a short weights/strength/core workout
Still wet and muddy underfoot so we donned our walking boots and headed off to explore. From our cabin we would see people walking through the woods so we followed the path to see where it led. A few hours later we returned very muddy from a lovely 5 mile walk (The children were not impressed at this point!!)
Day Three
We visited the Dean Heritage Center which was lovely, we did the Gruffalo Trail and had some lunch. We stopped off on the way home at Mallards Pike Lake for a little wander round the lake.......yeah that didn't happen! Rich was in his "Lets see where this path leads" mood....
The only way to describe it was how I imagine a tough mudder run to be. Mud, mud and more mud. I had actually stamped a load of mud off before I took this photo otherwise the mess in the car would not have been pretty. The only saving grace on this walk was the beautiful lake and a trail of storyboards about the Easter Bunny and what appeared to be cuddly mice nailed to trees (!) for the children to follow the trail around the river. The kids got to leave a message at the end of the trail to say how much they enjoyed it, they were sure to mention that Daddy had made them walk MILES!
They were very glad to get back to the cabin and into the hot tub on our return, vowing never to come out for a day with us again...little did they know Mwahhh haaaa haaa haaaaaaaaaa.
Day four
Still smarting slightly from yesterdays muddy hike, my legs were feeling a little wobbly but none the less we loaded up our rucksacks, fastened our bike helmets and headed for the cycle path marked Symmonds Yat. I had read about the trail the day before, it was described as "not suitable for family cycling".....they were not wrong 😒I had not ridden a bike for the best part of 20 years and after all the running I had done figured it cant be that bad......yeah, I was wrong. Once I had remembered how to balance (balance and co-ordination do not come naturally to me!)and which was the front brake(the quiet one) and which was the back (the incredibly loud one which i'm sure sounded like I was murdering a flock of seagulls) I trundled along at a nice steady speed (think snail on a bike!). The uphills did not come naturally to me at all. For some reason I struggle with bike gears, no matter how much Rich tells me they are just like car gears, I just could not get into the right one! I decided the only way to tackle them was to get off and walk, that worked!
After what felt like eternity we arrived at our destination Symmonds Yat. We ate our picnic and had a look at the views (as much as you could see in the mist and fog!!)
At this point we were absolutely freezing so decided to stop off at the cafe at the top for a hot chocolate...they only took cash.....we had £3 on us and one hot chocolate was £2.60!! We gave up on that idea and headed back. Thankfully it was mainly downhill on the way back and soon learnt to ease back on the brakes and enjoy zooming downhill at a dizzy 18mph 😆😆😆. We were all very glad to get home and peel off our muddy clothes....oh and water bottle! Who needs water during exercise anyway!
Day Five
Death was so close now I could almost smell it....so Rich decided to load up the bikes and take us on another family bike ride (yay!). We drove to a cycle centre called Pedalabikeaway, it boasted a family trail as well as some off road trails for the more adventurous (not me!). We headed off on our "Family" trail.....that is if you are Mr McFit from Mcfitville! There were those bloody hills again, although Mr Iron Legs kept telling me it was all flat (strava told me different) thankfully Mr Little Legs wanted to make sure his mummy was ok so he took a back seat and suggested regular walk breaks, although I think they were more for his benefit than mine. Towards the end we were left behind by Mr Iron Legs and Little Miss i'll cycle for hob nobs! This actually played to our advantage because whilst they sped off ahead, they missed the sign for the cycle centre and continued along the trail (again) whilst Richie and I rested on the benches waiting for them to notice a) we were missing and b) they were going round again....that took them an extra 2 miles. Slow and steady wins the race!
Looking back it probably wasn't that bad, it certainly wasn't as steep as the day before but I think the effort from the previous bike ride hampered my enjoyment (that's my excuse and im sticking to it!!)
Day Six
We abandoned our bikes in favour for a bit of wild boar spotting. We headed to Nagshead Nature Reserve and headed off into the forest to see what we could find. It was a really lovely walk through the woods, again we hit the mud (seems to be the theme of the week!) but we carried on regardless. Not long into the walk a couple ahead of us beckoned the kids to come quickly and quietly. They had spotted some wild boar with their young just across the woodland. The kids were chuffed to bits to see the boar....by the time us oldies had got there the boar had gone. That was it, Rich was on a mission to find some, so we walked.....and we walked....and walked some more. We found boar foot prints, we found clumps of boar hair, we heard rustling in the bushes but no more boar were seen that day despite the fact we covered more or less the entire forest! The kids at this point were ready to leave us behind and go live with the wild boar!
Day Seven
Finally.....a day of what we normally do....nothing! It was raining and miserable so we chilled on the sofa, watched the closing of the Commonwealth Games and vegged in the hot tub for the very last time. I was so tempted not to do anything, after all no one would notice surely, we had done so much already this holiday....but no, I couldn't do it so after the kids had gone to bed and i'd packed my bags I got my weights out and did another half hour session of weights/strength/core training. I then collapsed into bed and slept like never before.
It was done....challenge complete. Thank you to everyone who has sponsored us so far....oh yes that reminds me....US!
There are now two of us signed up to stagger around the Cardiff Half Marathon...I have somehow roped my big brother into joining me again, he obviously did not learn last time.
This was us last time....
You can see the joy in our faces as we embark on our challenge! What will this one bring?
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